February 25, 2018
Day 52: Sihanoukville - Veal Renh
Routing: coast, #146B
"Shall I stay or shall I go?" I woke up this morning after a good night of sleep thinking: "Yesterday was probably just a difficult day on the bike with an unpleasant end! You used to like this place - give it a second chance!" So I did and basically rode the same route along the three northern beaches again, trying to find a place to stay for another couple of nights. But no different than yesterday! I am afraid the Sihanoukville of today is by far the least appealing place I have been to in South East Asia.
So I decided to leave despite the desire to have a decent rest. I feel a bit exhausted - mentally and physically, but it needs to be a place I do like. I was at Independence Beach making that decision and only one thing was for sure at that time: I would avoid Hway 4 as much as I could. And I could. At least for the first 50 km up to Veal Renh. I took the road along the harbour, past Prek Treng Beach, along all the refineries up to Veal Renh. By no means an attractive ride and due to the undualtions and the heat quite difficult as well. When I got to the intersection with the behated Hway 4 I decided to call it a day and leave the last 40something kilometers up to the turnoff for Srae Ambel for the next day.
The lady in the petrol station/restaurant right on that intersection directed me to the Hou Hoy Guesthouse just a kilometer down towards Sihanoukville where I got an acceptable room for 5 US$. Very, very basic guesthouse though. All the same - I was delighted to have made the decision to disappear from Sihanoukville and when I sat with a cold beer at the small shop next to the guesthouse I was actually feeling very positive!
Today's ride: 62 km (39 miles)
Total: 4,123 km (2,560 miles)
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